SPICED TO PERFECTION

Modern Asian cuisine on the Sunshine Coast is so much more than teppanyaki bars and neighbourhood Chinese restaurants. And Spicers Tamarind Retreat’s The Tamarind restaurant at Maleny is one of those marrying delicate Asian flavours and farm-fresh produce in innovative dishes and giving new twists to traditional styles of cooking.

The hatted restaurant considers itself Asianinfluenced, born of a Thai heart.

Executive chef Dan Jarrett opened The Tamarind with the retreat launch in 2010 and stayed for five years before branching out into his own restaurants on the coastal strip. But Jarrett answered the call to return to one of the region’s foremost Asian restaurants five years ago. “Thai suits our climate and Australians in general love Asian food,” he says. “It’s healthy and you don’t feel super-full [afterwards].”

Every February, the retreat welcomes up to 500 gastronomes for the Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival. The ‘mini-degustation’ is a chance for Jarrett to create new dishes exclusively for the festivalgoers.

“It’s a good excuse to have a good day out and get people to see our property and see this part of the world, and explore the hinterland,” he says.

“It’s just having a bit of fun with Asian food. I make up for the event something fried, something steamed and something bulky: four savoury dishes and dessert at the end. People can graze at their own leisure and pace themselves.

“Once they find their spot (in the rainforest setting), they make it their home and are set for the day,” he adds.